Soen Nakagawa
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Sõen Nakagawa (March 19, 1907 - 1984) was a Japanese teacher of Zen Buddhism in the Rinzai tradition. An enigmatic figure, Soen's life can be told in a number of ways depending on whom you ask. What cannot be disputed is his impact on Zen as it was practiced in the 20th century, both in Japan and abroad.
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[edit] Early life
Soen Nakagawa was born as Motoi Nakagawa on March 19, 1907 in Keelung, Formosa (Taiwan) as the eldest of three boys: Matoi, Tamotsu and Sonow. His father, Suketaro Nakagawa, was an army medical officer and his mother's name was Kazuko. His family moved shortly after to Iwakune, and then finally to Hiroshima. In 1917, at age 12, Nakagawa's father died, leaving his mother Kazuko a young widow. Soen's younger brother, Tamotsu, died soon after in his early childhood. His mother was forced to work to make ends meet and educate her young children herself. It was an unforgiving childhood for Soen. Soen's family was of samurai class, so in his youth he was trained as a samurai. But Soen was much more interested in the arts, where at a young age he displayed a gift for poetry.
[edit] Education
In 1923 Soen (still Matoi) enters highschool and becomes a boarder at the First Academy in Tokyo. Soen's childhood friend, Yamada Koun, enrolled on the same day as him. The two became roommates there and remained lifelong friends. It was expected that Soen would carry on the samurai tradition of his father, but Soen was pondering a more spiritual occupation. On one occasion Koun recalls young Soen talking once about how he was sitting zazen atop a platform on the balancing bars in the playground resulting in a "natural self-realization". Koun found this rather odd. Soen would write later, as a monk, that his highschool years were spent in search of a meaningful occupation. At the school library Soen read a passage on impermanance and deluded approaches towards happiness by Shopenhauer, which provided young Soen with a sense of clarity. Soen next read Orategama by Hakuin, and found again great clarity in the words. He gave a copy to Yamada Koun, who showed great interest in Zen afterward.
In 1927 Soen and Yamada enter Tokyo Imperial University together, where Soen stayed in a dorm at the Pure Land temple Gangyo-ji. He majored in Japanese Literature, and it was here that he continued writing his poetry. While at the university Soen studied classics of both the East and West. He studied Buddhist sutras and even the Holy Bible. Life on campus was fun for him, he frequented the theater to hear renditions of classical masters and had a band of friends immersed within the artistic community of Japan. Soen even started a small group at the university for people to sit zazen together, a tradition that lives on at the university to this day. Soen's final thesis was on the famous haiku poet, Matsuo Bashō.
[edit] Zen training
In 1931 Nakagawa and Yamada graduated from Tokyo Imperial University, and it would be several years before the two would meet again. A short while after graduation Soen attended a Dharma talk by Rinzai Zen master Keigaku Katsube at Shorin-ji and knew then he wanted to become a monk. Soen wanted to be ordained on his birthday at Kogaku-ji, once the monastery of his favorite Zen master Bassui. His mother felt he was throwing away his education, but knew he was a grown man who had to make his own decisions. So on March 19, 1931, Soen was ordained as a Zen monk by Keigaku Katsube at Kogaku-ji and given his Dharma name Soen. Just like Bassui, Soen then begins travelling to Dai Bosatsu Mountain in Kai province (near Mt. Fuji) doing solitary retreats as a hermit and then returning to the monastery to resume his duties as a monk. On the mountain Soen would sit zazen and write haikus, bathing in nearby streams and living off of the land. One day while on the mountain he nearly killed himself by eating poisonous mushrooms, and some peasants from nearby took him in and nursed him back to health. During this time Soen also becomes a friend and informal pupil of Dakotsu Iida, the now famous haiku poet. He later sent his work to Iada and had it published in Iida's haiku journal, Unmo. In 1932 Nakagawa first dreams up the idea of an International Dai Bosatsu Zendo while meditating on Dai Bosatsu Mountain, travelling to Sakhalin Island in Siberia in an empty search for gold to fund the project. It was also on Dau Bosatsu Mountain that Soen came up with his original mantra, "Namu dai bosa". In 1933 Nakagawa completes his haiku anthology Shigan (Coffin of Poems). That following year, 1934, selections from Shigan are published in the haiku journal Fujin Koron.
[edit] Ryutaku-ji
In 1935 Nakagawa accompanied Katsube Roshi to lead a weekend retreat for Tokyo Imperial University students, and realizes he forgot the kyosaku (Zen stick). In search of a replacement stick Soen went to a nearby Zen center, Hakusan Dojo, where he hears Myoshin-ji Zen master Gempo Yamamoto speaking. Soen became transfixed by the talk and intrigued by the man. Soen would return to the dojo several times after this encounter. One day, Gempo stated:
| “ | If you practice zazen, it must be true practice. | ” |
This remark struck a deep and spontaneous chord within Soen, and so he requested dokusan with Gempo following the talk where he expressed the desire to train under him. So Soen became a student of Gempo Yamamoto at Ryutaku-ji. In 1937 Nakagawa makes a trip with Gempo Yamamoto toManchuria to start a branch of Myoshin-ji Zen. Soen had recently began corresponding with Nyogen Senzaki (now in Los Angeles) in 1935, whose unconventional style of Zen teaching Soen greatly appreciated. In 1938 Yamada Koun was transferred to Manchuria on business where he meets Soen again. Here Soen mentions to Yamada his earlier dream of one day founding a non-traditional monastery on Dai Bosatsu Mountain in the spirit of Bassui. Yamada and Soen were walking one night together while Yamada was going on about some thing or another, and Soen stopped to say something that sparked Yamada's interest:
| “ | Yamada, all you do is argue. Why don't you try sitting? | ” |
Years later Yamada Koun would become a Zen monk and roshi, as well. In 1939 Nakagawa returns to Dai Bosatsu Mountain for another solitary retreat. In 1941 Ryutaku-ji is officially recognized as a Rinzai training monastery.
In 1949 Nakagawa makes his first trip to the United States where he meets Nyogen Senzaki in San Francisco. He found Senzaki's approach to Zen refreshing, and was happy to find a new freedom in expressing himself to followers that would be unheard of in Japan. Free to combine his love for Japanese theater (Noh) into analogies that paralleled sayings of the great Zen masters of the past. Nyogen expressed his wish to Soen that he would like him to stay with him to become his heir, but Soen has responsibilities back at Ryutaku-ji he is unwilling to compromise. The two saw each other again in latter visits to the USA. During this year, Soen also publishes his Meihen (Life Anthology).
[edit] Hesitation
In 1950 Gempo Yamamoto roshi decided it was time for him to retire as abbot of Ryutaku-ji, and he wanted to appoint Soen as head abbot. Soen was hesitant and anxious about the proposition of becoming abbot. He fled the monastery briefly after assuming the position, leaving Gempo with no other choice but to resume the position temporarily. In 1951 Nakagawa returned and resumed his position as abbot at Ryutaku-ji. Soen was a non-traditional abbot, deciding to not distinguish himself from his students. He wore the robe of a monk, he bathed and ate in their quarters. Over the next few years Soen set out to visit other masters stating that, since he had only finished 500 koans of Hakuin's 1700 curriculum, he needed more training. He went to Hosshin-ji and studied under Harada Daiun Sogaku, lineage holder of both the Soto and Rinzai school.
In 1954 Soen meets a young monk named Tai Shimano (Eido Tai Shimano) at a funeral for Zen priest Daikyu Mineo. In the summer of that year, Tai Shimano ordains as a monk at Ryutaku-ji under Soen's tutelage. In 1955 Soen makes his second trip to the United States and Nyogen Senzaki comes to Ryutaku-ji to visit with Soen for 6 weeks. In 1957 Keigaku Katsube roshi passes away. In 1958 Nyogen Senzaki passes away. Soen was named as the executor of Senzaki's estate and returns to the U.S. to settle Senzakis' affairs. In 1959 and 1960 Soen travels to the U.s. twice, leading a sesshin in Honolulu, HI during the latter.
In 1961 Gempo Yamamoto roshi passes away. In 1962 Soen's mother passes away. Soen and his mother were extraordinarily close. She would visit Ryutaku-ji almost daily to go on excursions into the mountains to talk. They would sit together to have tea, or listen to classical music together. Her passing, along with Gempo's passing the year before, sent Soen into a depression. He frequented Dai Bosatsu Mountain many times following this for solitary retreat. In 1963 Nakagawa travels to the U.S.A., India, Israel, Egypt, England, Austria and Denmark with Charles Gooding, a former student of Nyogen Senzaki, teaching Zen with various sanghas.
[edit] Accident, 1967
In 1967 Nakagawa sustained a serious injury surveying the grounds of Ryutaku-ji from the view of a treetop. He slipped on a branch and was left unconscious for three days where he had fallen before being found. He was discovered in a bed of bamboo reeds unexpectedly by one of his monks. He was hospitalized for a long time treated for his head injury. Yamada Koun stated he was never quite the same after this accident.
[edit] 1967-1984
In 1968 Nakagawa makes his 7th trip to the USA to open New York Zendo Shobo-Ji on September 15. In 1969 Nakagawa travels again to Israel, England, Egypt, New york, California and Hawaii to lead sesshins with sanghas.
In 1971 Nakagawa made his 9th visit to the USA, helping The Zen Studies Society (founded by D.T. Suzuki) purchase acreage in the Catskill Mountains for International Dai Bosatsu Zendo. In 1972 Nakagawa makes his 10th visit to the United States where he gives Dharma transmission to Eido Tai Shimano.Upon returning to Japan in 1973 Nakagawa retires as abbot of Ryutaku-ji. This same year he publishes "Ten Haiku of My Choice". In 1974 and 1975 Nakagawa makes 2 more visits to the USA staying first at the still unopened International Dai Bosatsu Zendo, and then going into solitary retreat at New York Zendo Shobo-ji.
In 1976 International Dai Bosatsu Zendo was officially opened. In 1981 Nakagawa publishes Koun-sho (Ancient Cloud Selection), and in 1982 Nakagawa makes his last visit to the USA. Upon returning to Ryotaku-ji, Nakagawa becomes a recluse. Rumors floated among monks there that Soen had grown his hair out and let his fingernails grow long while locking himself in his bungalow on Ryutaku-ji's grounds. Some of the monks said he was beginning to wet himself and that he had gone crazy. Classical music could be heard coming from his little home late at night. In 1984, on March 11, while approaching his 77th birthday, Nakagawa died while taking a bath at Ryutaku-ji.
[edit] Legacy
Soen was viewed as an unorthodox, eccentric and controversial teacher within conventional Rinzai circles of his day. Soen followed the spirit of his own heart, dancing to his own music, without a care as to whether he was in or out of sync with the Rinzai orthodoxy. A lot of the "controversy" would seem quite petty to most of us today, but at the time the Japanese in general were extremely conservative in their thought. Yet even those who were puzzled by Soen still held a sense of admiration for his originality as an individual. His liberal, open minded approach toward teaching is one reason why he was so effective at attracting a Western audience.
Soen Nakagawa chose to view himself as a monk, and was never entirely comfortable with his role as a roshi. He was certainly a compotent one, however, even if he himself did not fully see it. A free spirit, a creative and sensitive man who loved all things beautiful, Soen Nakagawa has most certainly made his own unique chapter in the history books of Zen.
Notable formal and informal students of Soen Nakagawa include:
- Eido Tai Shimano
- Kyudo Nakagawa
- Roko Sherry Chayat
- Philip Kapleau
- Robert Baker Aitken
- Paul Reps
- Maurine Stuart
- John Daido Loori
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Tanahashi, Kazuaki (Ed.). Chayat, Roko Sherry (Ed.). Endless Vow: The Zen Path of Soen Nakagawa. Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1996. ISBN 1-57062-162-4.
- Besserman, Perle. Steger, Manfred. Crazy Clouds: Zen radicals, Rebels & Reformers. Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1991: ISBN 0-87773-543-3.
[edit] Selected works
- Shigan (“Coffin of Poems”), 1936
- Meihan (“Life Anthology”), 1949
- Koun-sho (“Ancient Cloud Selection”), 1981
- Hokoju (“Long-lasting Dharma Light”). Posthumous, 1985
